The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Pericallis plant, botanically known as Pericallis cruenta and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Ochkeipu’.
The new Pericallis plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Gose City, Nara, Japan. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Pericallis plants with attractive purple-colored flowers.
The new Pericallis plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in July, 2006 in Gose City, Nara, Japan of a proprietary selection of Pericallis cruenta identified as code number FNP8-005, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Pericallis cruenta identified as code number FC5-002, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Pericallis plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Gose City, Nara, Japan in June, 2010.
Asexual reproduction of the new Pericallis plant by terminal cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Gose City, Nara, Japan since June, 2010 has shown that the unique features of this new Pericallis plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.